Toy shop of dreams

Hamleys toy shop

I sometimes do game activation’s for a company called Solarpop. We usually work with board games like; 5 Second Rule, Catan, Ticket to ride, Spot it and they also have magnetic building games like Magformers.

Usually I do them at Skoobs in Monte Casino, but this time I was sent to Hamleys toy shop in Fourways Mall. I worked there on the first day they opened which was not their official opening but it was Black Friday and they didn’t want to miss that and then I also worked there on their official opening day. They put me right in their entrance.

On the first day that I was there, they had toys out to show kids how they work. This meant that there were toys on the floor, toys flying around and toys in their hands. I was getting a serious ‘Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium’ vibe and I was loving it.

They even had an AP Car Racing track for children to enjoy and will soon be opening a coffee shop inside their shop for parents to enjoy. Every now and then, they put the music louder and the staff run to the front of the shop and follow the instructions in the music. There is usually a large amount of activity and excitement happening and their service is out of this world!

They greet people as they come in and say goodbye as they leave. They immediately as if they can help in any way. The cleaning staff have t-shirts on that say ‘Sparkle and Shine Crew’ on the back which I thought was so clever and creative.

All I can say is that this company knows how to do an opening day. They went big! They had people dressed in all different characters, they competitions for the best dressed children which also came dressed up. They had a train picking up people and riding through the same level of the mall that they’re on.

They got all the people dressed as characters, as well as the children of the clients and add to that a young adult Scottish band with bagpipes and you have a procession through the mall that nobody could ignore. I loved the bagpipes!

On opening day, it was extremely busy. People could hardly even move and even when the electricity went off temporarily due to load-shedding, no one seemed bothered waiting for the back up power to kick in. The energy was high and the kids were in their element. They even had free popcorn and candyfloss for everyone.